


Interlude: A Fractured Reality

by juliesioux



Series: Exploring the Future [9]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Arrow speculation post 415, Break Up, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Injury, Injury Recovery, Love, Relationship(s), True Love, oliver and felicity separate, soul mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-19 00:09:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5948422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juliesioux/pseuds/juliesioux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is Felicity's POV that accompanies Oliver's in A Fractured Reality (another work posted here).<br/>It is speculation for post episode 415 and looks at how Felicity might be handling a possible separation from Oliver after his son is revealed. </p><p>It isn't about William but instead looks at the connection that still pulls them together. It is angsty as hell, of course.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Interlude: A Fractured Reality

**Interlude: A Fractured Reality**

_There was one way in_   
_to the story she told_   
_but so many ways out._

 

A cold draught rushed over her, stirring her from her sleep. Without opening her eyes, Felicity reached for her duvet and pulled it up across her. It was too early to get up, she could tell by the darkness that pressed in on her. She didn’t need to open her eyes to know the sun had not yet approached the horizon.

She pressed backwards towards Oliver as best she could, indicating that she was somewhat awake and would welcome his embrace. She knew he did his best to be gentle with her in the early morning hours, when her pain medication was wearing off and she might not be up to contact. What he failed to realize was that she always welcomed and would welcome his touch. She had signalled over and over that it was what she wanted but he still waited for her to pull him to her.

On nights when the pain shot through her body like a million electrified bee stings, she would seize up and cry in silent agony. She desperately wanted to be brave and not show him just how intense the pain was but the tears would leak out and splash down her cheeks. She felt scraped raw, flayed and laid bare in the bed they shared, by the fiery heat of feeling in her legs. Gripping the sheets in fists now strong enough to pry the world apart, she would breathe through clenched teeth and will the pain away.

In the midst of the fury coursing through her, she would feel his hands moving softly over her skin. The familiar callouses pulling her attention to them, focusing her fractured mind onto the path they were creating on her body. He never said a word but she felt his tears fall next to her own. His helplessness in these moments never gave way to panic or fear, instead he would help her through the pain with love and tender touches. Oliver never gave her more than she could take, never left her to suffer alone and never allowed her to give into despair. Felicity constantly marvelled at the never ending faith he had in her. It bolstered her and gave her the space to find her own belief in herself.

She felt the draught again and wondered if the balcony door had been left ajar. They did that sometimes these days. After coming home, exhausted and battle worn, the trip up to their room seemed like a journey that took hours instead of seconds and often they would forget to close it or to turn down the gas fireplace. The search for Damien Darhk had taken its toll on them all but it was never good to get that forgetful.

Burrowing further into her cocoon, Felicity turned her fuzzy thoughts to Oliver and called his face up from memory. Every line, battled earned and set, was committed to memory and she loved every one of them. She would study his face in the moments after he had fallen asleep. Years would fall away and there beside her, this large and immensely powerful man would smile contentedly, like a little boy without a care in the world.

It broke her secret heart to trace the landscape of violence done to his body but it had shaped him into the man he was now but would not define the man he was to become. Regardless of time, or whatever iteration of superhero he was at the moment, she loved him with a singular intent, one so strong it had branded time itself. She would always seek the safety and warmth of his embrace in the quiet of the night. Although sometimes their bed was too big as he would retreat to the edges of it during the dark hours of the night, when sleep was the deepest for him.

She would listen and wait for the shift in his breathing, the slight restlessness that accompanied his resurfacing to consciousness, that would move the mattress they slept on just enough, to let her know he would feel her beckoning him. There was still time to sleep, the sky was still layered with stars, so she pulled him into her orbit and wrapped herself in his arms.

With a deep sigh, she would entwine their fingers together and feel him slip back to sleep. Felicity would take her time to find her way back to her dreams where she walked and ran and danced. She wanted nothing more than to leap out of bed one morning, completely healed from the damage done by a would-be assassin’s bullet. For now, she would remain content to sleep here with Oliver and contemplate what the future might bring them.

 

* * *

 

 

_Felicity felt the draught again only this time it brought with it the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. The light that pressed in around her eyelids, signalling the start of the day. She slowly let go of the pull of sleep and returned to the world. Without turning over, she reached for the warmth of Oliver’s body as she allowed her senses to readjust._

_Her seeking hand only found emptiness. No bed, no covers, no Oliver, nothing greeted her except the cold morning air. Sitting up in alarm, she looked wildly around her room and what she saw confused her. She saw her wheelchair, which should be downstairs, she saw the balcony, door slightly ajar, and the rising sun glinting off of the buildings across the street. She saw her mother quietly making breakfast in the kitchen, setting her morning coffee on a tray with a soft clink._

_In a rush it all came flooding back, threatening to sweep her away into the void of memory. He had taken from her the one thing she valued most: her trust in him. She still loved him, deeply and truly, but she couldn’t look at him without seeing a trail of lies and half truths and the son whose existence he didn’t trust her to know. So for now, until the wounds on her heart could be mended, she was sleeping alone on the main floor of their loft in a makeshift bed by the fireplace, wrapped in her comforter with her mom to help her as she navigated her new reality._

_The cold draught continued to blow over her, drying her tears as she waited for the searing pain in her soul to ease. Hot tears turned icy cold on her cheeks as she readied herself for the coming day alone in a world once so full of light and love._


End file.
